Granting an Extension

It might be a gimmick-y release for a gimmick-y season, but yeah, I'm still gonna bust a box of this stuff. Not Update, mind you. Extended. That's in spite of elements of the base set that give vibes of Topps Update. All-stars. Traded players that couldn't be photoshopped into uniforms for Series 2. Rookies. And third and fourth liners to give you the idea that some obscure players can get into a mainstream release.

First card out is a Sens card! That bodes well, right? 

While there was very little change in the base cards between Series 1, 2 and Extended, there was still one. They've cut back on the stats. going from a maximum of 20 to just 5. Which does the beg the question as to why?

The odds were actually pretty decent that I'd hit a Senator as the first card I'd see. Out of 200 non-Young Gun base cards, they got 10 of the base cards in the set. While I didn't land the Young Guns of Artem Zug, I did put together their 10 card base set. 

While the photography in the UD releases tends to be very good, it seemed pretty generic here. So, my favourite base card might just be Bobby Ryan alongside some cardboard rinksiders.

But whether it is my mask collection, my Rangers alum collection, or my 2/14 collection, it still adds some chase cards to add to the binder.

If I will compliment something about the photo choices, there are a nice selection of ones featuring alternate jerseys, whether reverse retro or not.

The Young Guns aren't exactly at the strength of what one finds in S1 or S2, but at least Ingham is a Rangers alum. Fellow alum Logan Stanley can also be found in this. 

There's a few returning inserts/parallels from the earlier series, such as Dazzlers and French variations. 

But the highlight in this set might not be the Young Guns, but the retro inserts. Much like with Chronicles, a several familiar designs from the past make appearances in here. Such as this flashback to 2005. I'm amused that both Tkachuks were collated together, and that they are both against Winnipeg, and they both are showing their issues with wearing mouthguards. 

And here's a bunch more ofthese inserts. I guess this is what you'd expect from this. Stars, and rookies.

But some of these are numbered. This is to /2999, which seems high, but also seems appropriate for Finite, since some of those did have fairly high runs.

UD3 is yet another set that can be found in this, and these come in at /1000.

But my lowest numbered card was a Sens card! I guess that was a good sign when the Gudbranson showed up! That's my first numbered Stutzle card, even though I do have a pair of Artifacts redemptions that will likely show up next March. 

There you have it!